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An Israel-bound flydubai flight from Dubai was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday after its two pilots were reportedly involved in a violent altercation on board.
The Boeing aircraft, operating flight FZ 1073, landed at Tabuk Airport at about 9:45am local time after an incident occurred while it was en route to Tel Aviv.
The airport operator said the captain and co-pilot were found injured after the aircraft landed and were taken to hospital for treatment.
Flydubai earlier confirmed that the aircraft had experienced an incident during the flight, but said all passengers were safe and accounted for.
“Flight FZ 1073 experienced an incident while en route. The aircraft has landed safely in Tabuk Airport (TUU) and all passengers are safe and accounted for,” the airline said.
Several Israeli media outlets reported that a fight had broken out between the pilots and that a distress signal was activated during the incident.
According to the reports, two other pilots who were travelling as passengers on the aircraft subsequently entered the cockpit and took control of the plane, enabling it to make the emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
The circumstances surrounding the reported confrontation had not been officially established by the airline or authorities as of Wednesday.
At Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, anxious relatives gathered to await the return of passengers from the flight.
Yasmin Abukasis, whose daughter Miryam Shira Ohayon was on board, told AFP that her daughter had called her from Saudi Arabia and described a frightening scene in the cockpit.
“She said one pilot tried to kill the other pilot with a knife. They heard shouting,” Abukasis said.
She said another passenger went to the cockpit and “saw a lot of blood”.
“She started screaming ‘come help’ and some people went in and caught the guy,” she added.
Abukasis said passengers feared for their lives as the aircraft rapidly lost altitude.
“All the while, the plane started going down very fast. People thought they were going to die,” she said.
She added that two other pilots who were travelling at the back of the aircraft later took control.
Neither flydubai nor authorities in the countries involved immediately provided details about the incident or confirmed the nationalities of the pilots. Some Israeli media reports, however, said one pilot was Omani and the other Emirati.
The incident also triggered security concerns in Israel, with Kan public broadcaster and Channel 12 reporting that Israeli fighter jets had been scrambled after authorities feared a possible hijacking.
That possibility was later dismissed, according to the reports.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had held consultations over the incident and was monitoring developments.
“The incident is under control, and all measures are currently being deployed in order to return the Israeli passengers safely to Israel,” the statement said.
The Israeli military told AFP it was “checking” the reports.
Another passenger’s relative, Meir Zohar, said his son Ido had sent him a text message confirming that he was safe, although he provided little further information.
“He told us that everything is okay, he didn’t tell me that much,” Zohar said.
Israeli media, citing unnamed sources, also reported that passengers had intervened to separate the pilots during the alleged altercation, with images circulating of a passenger wearing a bloodied shirt.
Channel 12 further reported that authorities were investigating whether one of the pilots may have attempted to crash the aircraft, with the other pilot allegedly intervening.
Flight-tracking data cited by AFP showed that the aircraft experienced a sharp loss of altitude, dropping from nearly 34,000 feet at 5:21am GMT to below 17,000 feet a minute later.
Heavy security was visible around Tabuk Airport after the aircraft landed, with several police vehicles and an ambulance stationed near the terminal.
The incident occurred amid heightened tensions across the Middle East following the regional conflict that erupted in late February with US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
It also comes weeks before Israel’s elections scheduled for the end of October, with security concerns already featuring prominently in the country’s political discourse.
